News

We were invited to an off-road event organized by Eastern Motors, the dealers for Jeep in Al Ain. Called the Jeep Funatic, the event was the first of its kind to be organized in Al Ain, and is similar to the Jeep Jamboree event held annually in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. While the Jeepers were expected to roll in their own Jeeps, we were handed over a ride by the dealer. Expecting nothing more (and less) than a Wrangler, we were in for a surprise, as the ride turned out to be a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V6.

This is it. The car that melds your muscle-car fantasies with your practicality needs. The 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT is expensive, but with performance that keeps up with all sorts of overpriced German SUVs, it’s a relative bargain.

Toyota Motor Corporation has released a limited edition version of their flagship SUV, the Lexus LX 570, with a supercharger. Made exclusively for the Middle East market, only 200 units will be offered.

The all-new 2014 Ford Fusion has been on sale for a couple of months now, while the 2014 Ford Ranger is basically a carryover model, having been redesigned just a couple of years ago. But Ford decided to give us a taster of these two important models at the Dubai Autodrome recently, to highlight their best attributes. It was a generic event, like any other, but they then threw us a curveball in the form of the Toyota Camry and the Toyota Hilux, both there for us to compare with the Fords.

Ras Al Khaimah recently unveiled what they’ve dubbed the Middle East’s first-ever Go-Karting facility to be set up inside a mall, if you don’t count the one in Jeddah. Go-K, a 10,000 square-feet drift go-karting circuit, opened in RAK Mall.

Jaguar is keen to promote the F-Type as their new hero of the line-up, its position further solidified by the news that the long-running Jaguar XK is going to end production by this summer, with no replacement planned anytime soon. However, as big of an improvement as the F-Type is as a sports car, it is missing the main reason that I bought the XK for: cargo space.

While the other cars on our fleet are just toys, the Range Rover is the family vehicle and performs the bulk of our transporting duties. We’ve also trusted it as our luxury ride for important time-sensitive meetings and airport drop-offs. As such, it needs to be reliable. Thankfully our greyish-green Vogue has served us faithfully since 2012 with only minor niggles, especially since we properly take care of it. But it is nearly a decade old and has 111,111 km on it, so we decided to do the inevitable overhaul after it started showing signs of tiredness.